Method of securing vegetable fiber.



J. LAUROIX.

METHOD OF SECURING VEGETABLE FIBER.

APPLICATION FILED 00125, 1913.

1 ,1 1 1 ,02'7, Patented Sept. 22, 1914,.

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JOSEPH LACBOIX, 0F FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF SECURING VEGETABLE FIBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 22, 1914;.

Application filed October 25, 1913. Serial No. 797,321.

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatnI, JosnPH LAoRoIX, a citizenof the United States, residing at Fall River, county of Bristol,Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Methods of Securing Vegetable Fiber, ofwhich thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to the production of vegetable fibers such asthoseof fiaX or hemp, and particularly to the direct production of suchfiber from the plant. Various methods of securing fibers of this naturehave been tried with greater or less success. One of the greatdifficulties in the treatment of these fibers has been the effect uponthe fiber, and especially upon thestrength of the fiber. Anotherdifiiculty present in most processes has been the unavoidable breakingof the fiber, the loss of a great part of it and the production of aresultant article of short staple. The usual processes have been slow,taking long periods of time for preliminary rotting or softeningtreatment and have produced an inferior product and a small yield. Mypresent invention provides a method by which fiber is immediatelyproduced without long preliminary treatment. The fiber is long andunspoiled and unweakened and the yield secured thereby is as high as1,500 pounds to the ton as againsta yield of 200 pounds or less to theton which has been heretofore considered satisfactory.

The gist of my invention lies in the discovery that straw of the flax orhemp is held by oils or gums which are either volatilizable by heat orso materially dried as to render possible the complete separation of thefiber and the expulsion of the chaff or straw like elements of the stalkcasing.

The manner of operating under my method will be more fully set forth inthe specification which follows, and in order to make the same clear, Ihave shown in the drawings in diagrammatic form, an apparatus for thepractice of my invention.

I have indicated at 1 an oven which may be of any suitable size or shapethrough which runs a conveyer 2 driven at very slow speed so that inaction any body of straw S will remain within the oven for approximatelythirty minutes. The oven 1 is preferably heated to about 135 F.,although it is possible to operate as low as 75 but with very muchreduced advantage. Ihave also found it possible to operate as high as175 but the higher temperatures are liable to char the fiber. From theconveyor 2 the heated straw is passed to a series of sixteen pairs ofheated rolls indicated at 3. These rolls are fluted or corrugated asindicated at 4, and inpractice I prefer rolls about six inches indiameter and preferably about five feet wide, to accommodate theordinary feed of material. The rolls may be driven by any suitabledriving mechanism (not shown). The first set of rolls of those nearestthe oven has its fiutings about one-fourth of an inch broad and the lastset of rolls has its flutings about one thirty-second of an inch. Theintermediate flutings are of widths gradually decreasing in width.

The straw may be fed to the oven just as it comes from the thrashingmachine on the field. During the preliminary heating or baking whichoccupied usually about thirty minutes the oils or gums of the straw areeither volatilized and driven off or such as are not of a volatilenature are dried or hardened so that not only the bark and shive butalso the gum itself is dried and easily broken and rubbed off andseparated. When the hot straw reaches the first pair of rolls 3 theexterior skin has been released from its hold on the long fibers and asit is broken between the rolls the outer coating of the straw is brokenup and drops away in the form of a dusty chaff. As the straw progressesthrough the hot rolls with the small flutings, it is still further freedfrom its oils and has the coatings broken up until at the end of thesixteenth roll it emerges as a substantially free mass of fibers readyto be fed to the picker. Each pair of rolls is kept hot by any suitablemeans as by a steam pipe 5. This keeps the material hot throughout itstraveling and volatilizes the oils as fast as they are exposed in thebroken mass.

The action of the rolls is one of disruption or disintegration. Theireffect is a crushing and rubbing of the straw to fracture the matterincasing the fiber and to free it from the fiber. This result may beaccomplished by any of the various means well known in the art whichaccomplish this crushing or rubbing either simultaneously or separately.

The number of rolls, the size of the same,

as well as thesizeof the flutings, may be varied. I find it of greatimportance however to heat each roll- Various modifications may be madein the times, temperatures, and method of handling all without departingfrom the spirit of my invention if within the limits of the appendedclaims.

YVhat I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. The method of isolating the fibers of flax,ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw and subsequently mechanicallydisintegrating the matter associated with the fiber while maintainingthe straw in hot condition.

2.The method of isolating the fiber of flax,ra'mie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw and in subsequently subjecting the strawto rubbing while maintaining it hot. l 3. The method of isolating thefiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the like consisting in heating the strawand subsequently in successively working it between hot rolls ofincreasing fineness to free the fiber.

4. The method of isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw and subsequently in subjecting the strawto progressive crushings while maintaining it hot.

5. The method of isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw and subsequently freeing the fiber bymechanism having heated, straw contacting elements.

6. The method of isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in mechanically manipulating the straw at a temperaturesufiiciently high to maintain the gums and the like in a free ornon-tacky condition. H I

7. The method of isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in first heating the straw and then working the heated strawbetween hot rolls.

8. The methodof isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw'and in subsequently subjectingthe strawto crushings of increasing fineness while maintaining it hot.

9. The method of isolating the fiber of flax, ramie, hemp and the likeconsisting in heating the straw and subsequently in successivelycrushing it between hot rolls of increasing fineness to free the fiber.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. JOSEPH LAOROIX.

Witnesses:

CHARLES J. BURDIOK, MARION O. HoBBs.

Copies of this patent may be'obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, 11.0.

